The blog of fantasy author Shanna Swendson. Read about my adventures in publishing and occasionally life.

Wednesday, January 04, 2017

Stardust at Night

We’re having a roller coaster winter, with warm days and sudden cold snaps. Monday, I worked on the patio. Yesterday a front came through, so today I’m bundled up indoors. It’s supposed to be even colder tomorrow and Friday, with a chance of snow, so I will likely be working from the bed, under the electric blanket.

I’m trying something new and making myself sit on the exercise ball at my laptop desk when I’m using the “Internet” computer. I finally got that new computer I bought in the fall set up, and it’s so much faster online, so I’m using it for Internet, graphics, and the like. The old computer works, but is slow online, so I’ve turned its Wi-Fi off and am using it to write. That’s also the machine that has Office. I may eventually get Office for the new one, but for now, the Mac applications seem to do just fine. I also got Scrivener for this machine, but I’m still on a learning curve there. I’m looking forward to figuring out all the features for keeping a series straight. I can get Internet on the old computer, in case there’s something I want to look up while I’m writing, but keeping the Wi-Fi off means less temptation. So far, it seems to be working. I’m getting stuff done at my desk upstairs when I’m writing, and sitting on the ball makes me less likely to get sidetracked into mindless surfing. It will also probably end up helping my posture and my core muscles along the way. What sparked this was a newspaper article on all the ways that sitting all day is bad for you. I’m not sure I’d get much done on a standing desk, but one of the alternatives they suggested was sitting on an exercise ball because that counteracts some of the bad aspects of sitting, like the effect on posture. It’s nearly impossible to slouch while sitting on one of these things.

In other news … I’ve never really gotten into audiobooks because I tend to zone out when people read to me, but I enjoy audio dramas like they do on BBC radio. There’s currently an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust available to listen to online. I listened to part one last night, and it’s quite good — rather different in some ways from both book and movie, so while the story is familiar, it’s still got some “new” to it. I streamed it on my tablet with my headphones on while lying in bed with the lights out, and I would recommend headphones or a good stereo because there’s some nice separation that gives you the impression of motion as a sound goes from one channel to the other. I enjoyed listening to my bedtime “reading” enough that I may have to give an audiobook a try. It might be a way to shut off my brain to go to sleep. Or I’d end up more awake from listening intently.

Anyway, you can hear Stardustat this link for another couple of weeks.